REGILDING THE CRESCENT
the Genoese, date back many centuries. The
seine and some other nets are also used, and
there is a hook-and-line fishery on the shores of
the Marmora. Yet the fisheries are capable of
immense development, by encouraging which
the Government would also acquire valuable
material for the future recruiting of the navy.
Of other industries, Turkey has none of first
importance, though the swords, brasswork and
inlaid furniture of Damascus, the carpets of
Smyrna, Broussa and Angora, the silk fabrics of
H£r£k£, and even the mother-of-pearl work of
Bethlehem, deserve passing mention.
The future development of industrial and
commercial Turkey is a problem which neces-
sarily involves such indirect encouragement as
the undertaking of public works, of which some-
thing is said elsewhere. With the exception of
Salonika, which is the terminus of three railroads
and the outlet for Macedonia, and Constanti-
nople, which possesses immense advantages of
natural position and political prestige, Smyrna,
with the finest quays in the Near East, and
Beyrout, the port of Damascus, none of the
ports of the empire are properly cared for. Jaffa,
the port for Jerusalem and the hinterland, is
scarcely a port at all, and Alexandretta, which
may have a great future* needs better inlaricl
194